By stealing in small amounts, title agent embezzled more than $230,000

A Palmer Township woman who embezzled more than $230,000 from the title company for which she worked pleaded guilty Monday to felony theft.

Heather J. Mineo has already paid back $100,000 to First Patriot Abstract in Bethlehem Township and will be making full restitution before she is sentenced in April, said her attorney, Scott Wilhelm.

Mineo, 44, was charged last summer with stealing $232,247 in escrow and operating funds while working as a title agent for the Emrick Boulevard company from January 2003 through December 2013. She'll face guidelines that call for nine to 16 months in jail at minimum when she is next before Northampton County Judge Paula Roscioli.

Police filed the charges after an investigation of the company's records that included a 100-page forensic audit by an accountant, according to court records. The probe showed Mineo had written out more than 13,000 checks to cash, and her signature was on the front and the back of each of them.

The forensic audit also could not find a paper trail of receipts for nearly $10,000 in expenses Mineo claimed to have incurred, police said.

Mineo fought tears in court as she pleaded guilty. She had applied for a first-offender program that would have allowed her to avoid a criminal record, but prosecutors denied her bid after officials from First Patriot opposed it.

Assistant District Attorney James Augustine said Mineo's thefts went undetected for so long because she stole in small amounts. The company has identified additional money that it believes Mineo also took and should be responsible for, Augustine said.

Roscioli said that if the two sides cannot come to agreement on how much is owed, she will hold a hearing to determine restitution.